Of Choices and Dreams
by an amaranthine dream
Summary: Three young demigods are sent on a quest to settle a dispute between the gods Janus and Morpheus. Chaos ensues, as normal. Multichapter. Rated T for occasional cursing. Co-written with the lovely lifeisabook, a.k.a. Kayla.


You could say that our (my and Destiny's, that is) adventure started with the scorpions, with the Olympics, maybe even with Sean. But I trace it back to that day at Mt. Etna, where I met Destiny (literally).

The start of it all was when I heard a knock on the door. I groaned. I was supposed to be enjoying my stay at Dad's forges, making to my delight, but people just wouldn't leave me alone. "Dad?" I asked.  
"My name's Destiny," came an almost regal voice. Gods, she sounded already like a huffy-puffy girl, the last thing I wanted to deal with. She opened the door. "I'm a demigod."

"Color me surprised," I sneered.

She continued on like she hadn't heard me. "I tried to get to Camp Halfblood, but without a weapon it's basically impossible. I was hoping you would make one for me. I could help."  
"Oh, I get it," I said, snickering. "You must think we poor, pitiful Hephaestus kids have nothing better to do than slave for our 'betters', huh? Parentage?"  
"N-not claimed, but p-people think Z-Zeus," she said, mumbling, obviously quieted by my insult.  
"Of course. I should have seen it before." Zeus. She must think she's all great just because of it. It's not like there was an oath anymore. Besides, the people could be wrong.  
"So?" she said.  
"So what?" I countered, making every effort to scare her away.  
"So, will you help me make me a sword?" she was obviously not catching my drift. Some girls are just so oblivious.  
"No. Especially no, because I can already tell that you fumble around with a sword. I won't make one." I knew it was rude, but I was telling the truth.  
"Loosen up," she said blatantly.  
"No." Why would I?  
"Yes." Okay then, somebody's not going to give up.  
"No."  
"Yes." Ugh.  
"Well, you are obviously persistent. Tell you what. I will make the sword as well as I can, but if you deem it not fit for your 'holy-daughter-of-Zeus' standards, go ask some other servant. Because I will not bow down to you." Okay, I was letting my guard down. But, oh well. I'm not the bad guy in this story.  
"Why are you so rude?" she asked in a cool voice, genuinely trying to understand. Her naivety was really starting to get annoying.  
"Because I just don't trust everyone and everything, like you. I take the extra step to check. And so far, you are failing my exam," I explained bluntly. Hey, sensitivity isn't my strong point, and I had just finished a shield that had taken a lot of hard work. I was tired and cranky, and in need of some annoying demigods to get out of my face.

"Well, someone's grumpy. Just please, I really need this sword. I can't get to Camp without it, I've tried, I could barely make it here, and if I am a daughter of Zeus, I need to get to camp." She said it so desperately; I knew I couldn't turn her down. "Please."

Gods, she was making it so hard not to hurt her. I guess she had to be obnoxious, thinking she was a daughter of the big cheese.

"I will say this one more time very slowly. I… am… not… your… servant," I said, enunciating each word.  
I saw her looking curiously at my tools and shouted out impulsively, "Don't touch those! You'll break them!"  
"So what if I touch them? And , no, I won't break them," she shot back, continuing to play with a one of the swords I'd made, doing what looked like running her finger along the sharp edge.

"What the hell! What do you think you're doing!?" I yelled, at the appearance of her cutting herself.

"Well, I wanted to cut this open," she said, showing a simple, silver circlet. It was quite breathtaking; the metal was so perfectly crafted.  
"Wha-wh-what is that?" I stuttered, still speechless.  
"It's from Artemis. I did her a favor when she needed to hunt, and I didn't want to be a Huntress, so I got this in return. But it's kind of useless. I was hoping that if I cut it open, with some magic, you could put the sword in, and it could pop out when I need it, if I double it and wear it as a bracelet," she explained. It was actually a decent idea. I had to give her props for that. Pretty cliché, but it might work.  
"That just might work. Hand over the circlet, and I'll see what I can do." Fifty minutes later I had oil all over my hands, working hard to tweak the button so that it would spring out when she pressed it, but wouldn't hurt her.  
"That's so cool! Thanks, Analise." I raised an eyebrow.

"How do you know my name?"

"Door sign," She explained. I smiled at that. It was nice when people remembered things like that. "My name's Destiny, by the way." I tried not to crack up. A possible daughter of Zeus that wields a bracelet from Artemis that turns into a sword, and her name is Destiny. She's a walking Mary Sue, that one.  
"There. It's done," I said, demonstrating the sword/circlet/bracelet. Destiny seemed greatly intrigued by what I created. I put it on her, and she tried it out for a while, utterly enchanted.  
"Thank you so much. So, I guess I'm on your good side?" she inquired, a hopeful look on her face.  
"Yeah," I laughed. "I guess. But I have one more question."  
"What?" she asked.  
"What's up with your name?" I giggled. We were going to be great friends, even if she was a completely different person than I. Maybe we weren't so different, after all. She didn't even seem all that huffy-puffy.

Well, that's the very beginning of our story, told in my, Analise's, point of view. Destiny and I worked out a deal, and we are going to take turns writing each leg of the journey.


End file.
